Building Resiliency Skills in the Classroom

First, start with the concept of “resiliency”. What is it? Be sure your student has an understanding of resiliency.

Tips

Hold a discussion about what resiliency is with the key message of resiliency being “the ability to bounce back, bounce forward from tough times”.

Bring magazines or other such materials (or students can draw their own picture) and have them find pictures that are representative of resiliency. They then share what their cards mean in relation to resiliency.

Building Resiliency in Young People is an excellent resource through ReachOut.com which provides lesson plans, classroom tips, worksheets and resources to use in the classroom with elementary age children for teaching the following Seven Essential Skills of Resilience.

Skill One – Emotional awareness and self regulation

Skill Two – Impulse control

Skill Three – Optimism

Skill Four – Flexible and accurate thinking

Skill Five – Empathy

Skill Six – Self efficacy

Skill Seven – Connectedness and reaching out

Most experts agree self-regulation and the building of resiliency starts at an early age. However, it is never too late to work on these skills during later childhood, adolescence and adulthood, in order to promote resilience in an individual.